VC Reporter – November 16, 2006

In Brief: Roast whole beans, not each other

The comments section of an active blog might be a place of response and discussion, or it might be a place of vitriol, depending.

Tyler Suchman, founder of OjaiPost.com — a virtual community bulletin board and roundtable — witnessed a spirited discussion regarding the recent local election unfold on his site.

“It being an open forum, you tend to get people that throw a couple punches,” he says diplomatically, “and there was a bit of that back and forth going on on the Web site.”

Some of the more acerbic comments prompted him to post “On civility,” urging greater respect between commenters. The relative anonymity among neighbors was somewhat ironic, and made Suchman and the other OjaiPost bloggers realize that perhaps it was time for them to get away from the computer screen and actually talk to each other.

“Instead of the discussion devolving into flame-throwing, it evolved into, ‘Where do we go from here? How do we have a positive discussion?’ ” Suchman says.

As one of his fellow bloggers noted, a popular common ground is coffee, and the simple social gesture of getting together for a cup led to what might be the first of many social gatherings at local independent coffee shop, Stir Crazy. The public is invited to attend, and there is but one thing to consider over a steaming cup: “How do we collectively start the discussion that leads to improving the community we all love?”

Residents are all invited to grab a warm libation and join the discussion on Nov. 18, 3 p.m., at Stir Crazy, 11534 N. Ventura Ave, Ojai. For more information, visit www.ojaipost.com.